The big deal in our world these days is the recent certification of Felicity and her beautiful, goldendoodle Service K9 Dakota! Felicity has high functioning autism, ADHD and severe anxiety. Unfortunately, due to significant incidents at school and the significant anxiety that resulted, Felicity has missed over 150 days of school in the past two years! We are very encouraged by the initial few months at school with Dakota that Felicity will soon have the security, structure and support she needs to attend and participate in school on a regular basis. We will be posting lots of pictures on Instagram and you can follow our adventure @mycrazyhouse.

HOBBIES

When I’m not chasing after my kids or working, I’m baking, cooking, gardening, reading or sleeping.

how i ended up here

My Dad was a partner at Del’s Distributors (an electrical wholesale) most of my life, until selling in 2013. I started working for him when I was 12, answering phones and working in the office. At 14, I completed the inaugural task of cleaning the wire room, and started working with contractors. I became a Cutler-Hammer distribution and motor control specialist at 18 and worked at Del’s until moving to Calgary in 1999. In Calgary, I was primarily involved with project management, spending many hours on job sites with contractors, engineers and other consultants, coordinating details between trades and problem solving. When I moved back to Manitoba in 2004, I continued with project management and did some commercial and industrial lighting design as well.

I am extremely efficient and numbers are my thing. For as long as I can remember I’ve been helping people budget and understand money, but contractors are definitely my people! I’ve taught many contractors how to track their expenses, be more efficient, and figure out why their hourly fee sounds so great, but they are barely getting by and what to do about it, often on the tailgate of a pick up truck.

My good friend Liz and I came up with the idea to teach contractors how to run businesses way back in 2003! Then life happened; I moved back to Manitoba, had 4 kids, got A LOT of education, and spent the better part of ten years figuring out how to manage and cope with a chronic illness.

I love this stuff! And so much of it comes naturally to me. What I realized in 2003, was that while most contractors are really good at what they do, running what oftentimes equates to a mobile business out of their truck, is really tough; much harder than anyone ever expects. There’s paperwork (who knew there could be so much paper!), constant changes to the scope of work, budgets to manage, and countless, ever-changing compliance requirements! When I developed The Profitability Programme, I wanted to drill down to the very basics of what these business owners need to know to be successful; something that could be taught quickly (one day), easily understood and implemented right away.

I can teach you how to run a profitable, organized, tax-efficient business…NOW!

My education

As I mentioned earlier, I have a lot of education! I’m addicted to learning. If I could do nothing but learn all day, that’s what I would do (doesn’t pay very well!). That said, there aren’t many questions related to business, accounting, taxes or financial planning I can’t answer, and that’s fun for me!

Here’s a list of my financial related education:

I completed the CFP® (Certified Financial Planner) education program and passed the CFP® certification exam in 2010.

In 2012 I completed the prestigious CLU® (Chartered Life Underwriter) education program and was awarded the Leslie W. Dunstall award for highest overall exam marks in Manitoba for all CLU courses. The first four parts of the CLU designation are the core CFP courses and this program continues with a specialized focus on income tax and estate planning, business succession and wealth transfer.

In 2014, I completed a two year accounting diploma, graduating with Highest Honours. I have over 15 years of accounting experience, but this program filled in some knowledge gaps I felt I had.

In 2015, I completed and passed the CEA® (Certified Executor Advisor) education program. This designation program provides professionals involved in any area of estate planning with a broad understanding of all 19 professions an individual may deal with while planning or managing an estate.

I also completed a specialized small business accounting program in 2015.

In 2017, I obtained the CPCA® (Certified Professional Consultant on Aging) designation.

volunteer work

I am passionate about volunteering and think it’s an important part of being in community with people. I volunteer for different things all the time, but here’s a list of the more official volunteer work I’ve done in the past few years.

advocis winnipeg
the financial advisors association of canada

Treasurer April 2019 to present
Institute Representative April 2019 to present
Committee Member October 2018 to April 2019

East st Paul chamber of commerce

Treasurer November 2017 to present
Board Member June 2016 to October 2017

SUN VALLEY SCHOOL LUNCH BUNCH COMMITTEE

Treasurer February 2013 to August 2016
I’m still the treasurer; it’s now a paid position 

charity

Through my business I support various organizations that provide education for construction trades in third world countries and countries that have been affected by war or tragedy. 10% of the profits from my workshops and consulting, and 10% of sales from the Profit Ability book will be donated.